1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cooling arrangement for an offshore wind energy installation, having a heat-absorbing device for absorbing the heat generated by the electronic and/or mechanical devices of the offshore energy installation, to be removed, and a coupled heat-dissipating device for dissipating heat to the surrounding water. The heat-absorbing device has a first cooling circuit operated by a fluid coolant which, in a heat exchanger device, transfers the absorbed heat to the heat-dissipating device having an open second cooling circuit operated by ambient water as the coolant.
2. Discussion of Related Art
An offshore wind energy installation with a heat exchanger system is described by German Patent Reference DE 100 16 913 A1. The tower-shaped offshore wind energy installation has a rotor unit, a gear arrangement and a connected generator for current generation. The occurring losses of efficiency during the generation of current by the generator appear in the form of heat. This waste heat must be removed to prevent overheating and thus damages. Thus a heat-absorbing device is arranged in the area of the generator and the gear arrangement. With a conduit system containing a coolant, the heat-absorbing device is connected with a heat-dissipating device provided in the area of the tower. The conduit system includes a recirculating pump. The heat-dissipating device is arranged in the lower area of the tower, wherein a heat exchanger is provided inside the tower, and heat is removed via a secondary circuit conducting seawater.
Although the heat removal with the aid of the seawater, which is available in sufficient quantities, is very effective, it entails one disadvantage that maintenance of such cooling arrangements for offshore wind energy installation is very expensive, in particular because of heavy algae and mollusk infestation.
It is known in connection with cooling arrangements operated with seawater to employ filters intended to catch organic particles in particular. However, problems often arise because of blockage of these filters by biological material or other particles present in the ambient waters.